ITINERARY:
Day 1: Singapore - Bandung
Day 2: Ciwidey - Kawah Putih - Situ Patengan - Jalan Dago
Day 3: Bandung - Singapore
DAY 1 (24 July 2009, Friday)
The flight was delayed for about 30mins before departing at 1445hrs. By the time I arrived in Hilton Bandung, it was almost 1600hrs local time. This time I was allocated a room on the 8th floor, with a view of the beautiful swimming pool.
The Italian Restaurant on the 6th floor
All day dining on the ground floor
The grand hotel lobby
As per the concierge's advise, I hopped on a taxi to get to Jalan Re Martadinata to do some shopping at the Factory Outlets.
The evening at the hotel's swimming pool
DAY 2 (25 July 2009, Saturday)
After a sumptuous breakfast at the hotel café, I began my day with a day-trip to the south of Bandung by renting a Toyota Avanza for Rp60,000/hr.
The traffic condition is very bad in Bandung. Traffic jams were seen in almost everywhere. Travelling about 40km to Ciwidey took us about 1.5hrs. Every second house in Ciwidey has a strawberry patch. The driver Teddy stopped at just one of the house and I began 'strawberry shopping'. I was given a styrofoam box where I can roam around freely in the strawberry farm to pluck any strawberries. Each kilogram cost Rp40,000. At the end of the day, I paid Rp41,000 for my entire box of strawberries.
Strawberries coated with chocolate fondue
From there, the road winds through the hills to the turn off to Kawah Putih. The narrow broken road took us up the mountains, up to an elevation of about 2100m above sea level. At Kawah Putih, the volcanic crater has a beautiful turquoise lake, with mists over the waters. Unfortunately, it was raining heavily when I arrived, and the temperature got much lower than I expected.
Moving further south, Teddy brought me through Rancabali, a big tea estate surrounded by rolling green hills of tea plantations. 2km south of Rancabali is Sity Patengan, a pretty lake with tea rooms and boats, where many visitors go across to the opposite island for picnic. The weather not being too friendly does not permit me to take much photos nor do any island visiting.
Lunch at Situ Patengan in a small coffeeshop displaying lots of soft drink bottles
The return journey back to Bandung took about 2hrs, with Teddy dropping me off at Jalan Re Martadinata for more shopping at the factory outlet. Total purchase - a dark business pants, pair of jeans, a cargo pants, and a tee shirt.... all for just Rp653,450 (S$95)!
In the evening, I got a taxi to Jalan Dago, at about 1100m elevation, to Sierra Restaurant. The restaurant overlooks the entire Bandung City, and they have quite a good steak menu.
DAY 3 (26 July 2009, Sunday)
After breakfast, I proceeded straight to the airport for the 1115hrs morning flight back to the Singapore. There goes the weekend!
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FAST FACTS
Flight: S$129
Transport S$41
Accomodation: S$47
Tours and entrance fees: S$3
Food & beverages: S$39
Shopping: S$95
Miscellaneous: S$14
TOTAL EXPENDITURE: S$368
EXCHANGE RATE
S$1.00 = Rp6,850
TRAVEL GUIDES / NEWS / MAGAZINES
Bandung Tourism
http://www.bandungtourism.com/
Bandung hotels, tourism and travel, West Java - Indonesia
http://www.visitbandung.net/
Wiki Travel - Bandung
http://wikitravel.org/en/Bandung
Wikipedia - Bandung
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandung
MAPS
http://www.indonesia-tourism.com/west-java/map/bandung_city_map.html
http://bandungmap.com/
http://bandungmap.com/html.php
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=bandung+map&rls=com.microsoft:en-US&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&split=0&ei=9ecKSpnZIqX66gPE_JyUAQ&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=1
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